


Sweater Weather

by TheNerdyTurtle96



Series: Claire's Christmas Oneshots [4]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Gen, No explicitly named relationships, Originally a secret Santa for someone on Wattpad, Ugly Christmas Sweaters, but I don’t care if you interpret it that way, not based on the song, the last of the Christmas stuff I swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:00:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28738386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNerdyTurtle96/pseuds/TheNerdyTurtle96
Summary: Prompt: Impulse loses a bet and has to wear a different ugly Christmas sweater every day till Christmas. Cleo works at a clothes store.
Series: Claire's Christmas Oneshots [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065737
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	Sweater Weather

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of my favorite prompts off the list of 25 for Christmas, and I just sat down and wrote the whole thing in 45 minutes flat one night. This was also a gift for the Hermittpad Secret Santa, and this is the last of my Christmas stuff.
> 
> I really don't have anything else to say, so just enjoy this adorable little thing!

Normally, Cleo really didn’t pay much attention to the customers at the clothing store she worked at. There were so many of them that few stuck out in her mind, especially around the Christmas shopping season. One of the only ones that she remembered was a particularly angry woman who almost started a physical fight over there not being an item in the right size available in store. 

However, it was rather unusual to have someone coming in every single day for an entire week. His face was slowly sticking in her mind with every purchase he made. It was always an ugly Christmas sweater - a different one every time - and he always stopped in an hour before closing time. He also had a ridiculously cheerful voice that pleasantly wished her a good evening every time they briefly met. It was so nice that it was almost impossible to be cynical about.

Her wandering thoughts were soon plagued with questions about why this man was buying a Christmas sweater every single day, as well as why he seemed so determined to cheer her up. She wasn’t falling in love with him or anything, but she just couldn’t stop wondering what the story was behind the purchasing patterns. 

Did he have a very specific shopping list for Christmas presents? Was a different person asking him every single day to buy them a Christmas sweater? Was he only able to afford to purchase one sweater per day? 

None of her potential explanations seemed to fit all of the evidence she had, though. Finally, she decided to just ask.

It was precisely an hour before closing time on December 10th when the man strolled into the store. Cleo carefully watched him browse out of the corner of her eye while trying not to be too creepy. Soon enough, he had found another Christmas sweater and carried it up to the register.

“Good evening, ma’am,” the man cheerfully nodded.

“Hello,” Cleo mumbled while trying to get her computer screen back to the scanning program. 

Quickly finding the tag, she scanned the barcode with her handheld scanner, and a shrill beep emitted from the computer in response. As she started to fold the sweater to place inside a bag, Cleo noticed that no one else was in line and decided to seize the perfect opportunity.

“So… is there a particular reason why you buy a different Christmas sweater every day?” It was Cleo’s style to be blunt and to the point, which the man thankfully didn’t seem to mind.

“Oh,” he chuckled,” I lost a bet.”

“A bet,” she parroted.

“Yeah. At Thanksgiving, my best friends set up a bet about who could eat the most pumpkin pie. I technically lost, but I also wasn’t the one throwing up all the pie later,” he casually shrugged.

“Ah, the logic is present in you,” Cleo grinned.

“Yep. Now, I have to wear a different Christmas sweater every day until Christmas. This store’s on my way home from work, and I kind of like checking out the selection every day to see if there’s anything new.”

“Well, if you ever need any help finding a new sweater, I can always dig around in the back for fresh inventory. I’m Cleo, by the way,” she offered, extending her hand.

“I’m Impulse. Pleased to meet you, Cleo,” he responded, shaking firmly and without any awkwardness.

“I suppose I shall see you here tomorrow, then.”

“Yep. Have a lovely evening!”

“You, too!” 

As Impulse walked away from the counter and out of the store, Cleo blinked a few times just to make sure that the conversation had actually taken place. 

_ Seriously, woman?  _ she chided herself.  _ How the hell did you not think of a bet? _

Normally, Cleo didn’t remember customers, but she was sure remembering Impulse. An idea was tickling her brain, and as foolish and stupid as she labeled it, it simply refused to go away. She was actually contemplating going out of her way to be nice to a stranger, and Joe was certain to tease her about that later. Maybe it was that stupid Christmas spirit everyone talked about. Nevertheless, if she actually wanted to complete this idea, she had work to do.    
  


—————

Over the next two weeks, Cleo and Impulse had talked briefly at the checkout counter almost every day. He had told some more stories about his crazy friends, she had explained the nuances and politics of her seemingly simple job, and they almost felt like friends at this point.

_ Imagine that, Cleo. Two people becoming friends because of a bet over Christmas sweaters and pumpkin pie. I don’t even know if I’m living in a Hallmark movie or not. _

Most importantly, the two had discussed their plans for Christmas. Cleo was staying in town and hanging out with Joe, her roommate, while Impulse was going back to his hometown to visit his family. Because of that conversation, she knew that this, December 22nd, was the last day before Impulse would leave for his trip, and thus the last day she could count on him visiting her store. Luckily, she was fully prepared.

Impulse entered at his usual time when there were no other customers in the store and walked right up to the checkout counter. For several days, the two had needed to go digging through the extra inventory in the back to find a new Christmas sweater, so he was fine with going straight to Cleo.

“Good evening, Miss Cleo,” he greeted.

“And a good evening to you as well.”

“Since I’m leaving tomorrow, I actually need three sweaters,” Impulse explained, subconsciously drumming his nails on the countertop.

“Actually, I looked through the back this morning,” Cleo explained, holding up two hangers with new sweaters on them. “Take good care of them, since they’re basically the only ones in this style.”

“Thank you!” Impulse grinned as Cleo laid the two items on the countertop. “But what about the third one? It’s okay if you don’t have another unique one.”

“Well…” she blushed, laying a neat package wrapped in tissue paper in front of Impulse. “Open this.”

Carefully, the man unpeeled the tape and lifted the wrappings to reveal the well-folded item inside. As he lifted it up to get a closer look, his characteristic grin grew even larger. 

“Where did you get this?” he asked, marveling at the intricately-knitted Christmas sweater, filled with all sorts of patterns and designs related to the season.

“I made it!” Cleo happily replied.

“You did?” 

“Yeah. I have a pretty good amount of free time here, and I knew that you were doing this Christmas sweater thing, so merry Christmas, I guess?”

“Oh my goodness,” Impulse choked out. “Thank you so, so much. I wasn’t expecting this at all.”

“I don’t want to get sappy and Hallmark-movie-y, but I wasn’t expecting to enjoy talking to a customer so much,” Cleo admitted.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to, but can I give you a hug?” Impulse cautiously questioned.

“Sure!”

Cleo quickly walked through the “employee only” gate to the customer side of the checkout counter and wrapped her arms around Impulse. It most likely resembled something from a bad Christmas movie, and something that Joe would most certainly light-heartedly tease her about later, but she really was sad to see Impulse leave the store that day. 

Normally, she didn’t remember her customers, and normally, she didn’t spend hours knitting a Christmas sweater for them.  _ Must be that stupid Christmas spirit _ , she sighed, more of contentment and that “stupid” spirit than she would have liked to admit.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m trying to get back to weekly oneshot uploads on Wednesdays, and with the amount of inspiration I’ve had recently, I think that’s actually going to be possible for a few more months. 
> 
> Now, will I ever write a multi-chapter again? Uh... To be honest, I have no clue how I finished Manual Restart in six weeks, and I can never keep motivation long enough to actually finish a multi-chapter. I have several half finished and fully planned multi-chapters just sitting in my drafts, and I really don’t know if I’ll ever get around to finishing them. Maybe this summer I’ll try to finish another multi-chapter, but no guarantees. 
> 
> Enough rambling. Hope you enjoyed, and have a lovely day!


End file.
